The Memories Lost
by Sakrea
Summary: At a party celebrating Ironhide's return, it should hardly be surprising when one gets a little overcharged and lets a secret slip out. Optimus Prime/Ironhide. Warnings: Mech kissing, Spoilers for the Ironhide comic series.


"You know, I remember this one time—"

"Oh this better not be the story I think it is."

"Hush! Lemmie finish!" Anyway, I remember this one time where this guy right here, went out of a scouting mission, apparently decimated an Elite team of top of the line, Decepticon Seekers, and none of us had ANY idea until he can hobbling back to base on one leg!"

"I remember that!"

"What about the time he decided to test out the Twin's Jet Judo style and he and Starscream crashed into the top floor of a building?"

"Oh primus, I will NEVER forget the look on Screamer's face when he jumped him!"

Ironhide grinned at the group and shook his head. The motion made his vision spin, but he forced himself to ignore it. "Frag I wish I could remember that!"

Jazz leaned into the table, giving the red mech a huge grin. "Ohhh, right. You only remember stuff from like 4 million years ago!" he shouted over the noise of the party.

"What're years?" Ironhide shouted back.

Prowl gazed at him from the other side of Jazz, notably the only sober bot at the table. As if proving this, Jazz shot the SIC a lecherous look and decided that rubbing the tips of the other's doorwings was a good idea at this point in time. "They are s-similar to meta cycles only a b-bit shorter." Prowl replied, alternating between wincing and biting back a moan through Jazz's ministrations.

Ironhide shot him a confused look that was partly due to the buzzing feeling the high-grade was causing in his processor. "I missed a lot?" he asked.

"The traitor didn't explain it?" Ratchet piped in, taking a long sip of high-grade that mostly dribbled out of the corner of his mouth.

"He's not a traitor." Optimus protested calmly. At first glance the Prime appeared to be perfectly sober, but had one watched him close enough, they would notice a distinct full body sway and the way his face mask seemed to be almost hanging loose.

Ratchet flapped a hand at him, which looked ridiculous in his highly overcharged state. "Details."

Sunstreaker, who had developed a distinct friendship with Ironhide, was also seated at the table. Due to his own high-grade induced delirium, he didn't appear to take the comment personally, though he was attempting to shoot Ratchet an apologetic look that looked unfortunately like a pout.

Ironhide patted the yellow frontliner, which sounded more like a hard smack since he was barely in control of his limbs. Sunstreaker almost toppled over. "Nah, he explained stuff, but there's a lotta personal stuff ya miss… Ya know?"

"I'm really sorry man…" Sunstreaker rumbled, looking like he might start leaking coolant from his optics.

"Its fine buddy, you did want ya could." Ironhide replied, giving him another clumsy pat.

Bumblebee flailed a hand at Ironhide from next to Optimus. "So… What DO you remember?" he asked, grinning like a loon.

From the other side of him, Cliffjumper leaned over, practically dragging himself into Bee's lap. "Yeah! Like… When can you actually remember stuff?"

At the intrusion, Bumblebee leaned into Cliffjumper, attempting to shove him off. The smaller red mech took that as an opportunity and promptly dragged his friend down ontop of him. Judging by the still yellow aft now sticking above the table, Bee was perfectly content to drift into a high-grade induced recharge on Cliffjumper's lap.

Ironhide tilted his head to the side, which threw off his balance sensors and had him falling into Optimus. "Oop, sorry sir. Didn't see ya there." He mumbled. He then did his best to push off of his leader, despite the fact that Optimus appeared to be trying to steady him against his larger shoulder. This made for an interesting flailing match two sets of red arms and only ended when the Prime stopped his own advance and Ironhide flopped back into Sunstreaker.

There was another moment where Sunstreaker and Ironhide struggled with each other before they both managed to sit up straight. "Well, last thing I remember is dying kinda."

"You did die you idiot!" Ratchet practically roared, slamming his cube on the table. "You didn't 'kinda' die!"

"Oh, not that time ya old codger!" Ironhide shot back, flailing a hand at him.

"You're the codger!" the medic snapped back.

"You're both codgers." Jazz said idly, optics locked firmly on Prowl's doorwings. Now he had both hands roaming over the smooth metal. "Now what'cha mean by 'kinda' dying?"

Ironhide snorted and leaned over the table. "Remember that one day when Optimus got a Decepticon Convoy to surrender without firing a single shot?"

Prowl's doorwings perked up so fast that they were ripped out of Jazz's hands. "That's the day there someone tried to assassinate Prime!" He paused, wings twitching as Jazz attempted to grab for them again. "You took the shot for him."

"That's the last thing I remember." Ironhide said, reaching for the half empty cube of high grade on the table.

"A memorable night, but you did survive."Optimus said from beside him, reaching out to point a finger at him.

For a long moment, the red soldier stared at the finger, optics nearly crossing as he did. "Yeah, but it did somethin' to me and I can't remember nothing after that."

"Good thing ya saved em too." Jazz said, optics dimming as he pressed his head into Prowl's hand. The SIC had apparently realized that a good way to keep the Special Ops mech from assaulting his doorwings was to rub his hands over Jazz's horns. "Primus knows we woulda missed him."

At that, Optimus turned his head and stared intently down at Ironhide, his optics piercing. It was a look the red soldier had seen many times both in public and private. This time it appeared to be one of those meant only for him.

Ironhide took another heavy swing of his cube, swallowing the contents only to find a warning blaring across his vision screen.

_Warning: Continued consumption of high-energized fuel not recommended. Further consumption will result in temporary stasis lock._

With a heavy snort of air, he disabled the warning. He wasn't about to let something stupid like bodily limitations stop him from having a good time with his friends.

"Well you all know I'd do anything for Prime."Ironhide said, grinning at the mechs at the table around him.

"We've noticed." Ratchet snarled. "Cause I'm the one who had to patch you up after that incident! Fragger…"

"We all know you care a good deal for our leader." Prowl noted, just loud enough to be heard. The SIC's attention was now almost completely locked on the mech that had crawled into his lap.

"More than you'll ever know!" Ironhide shouted, grinning widely.

"Oh yeah?" Cliffjumper shot back. "Try us!"

"Okay. Then how about I tell ya the REAL reason I saved Optimus?" Ironhide asked, locking optics with the minibot. His vision blurred momentarily when he did, so he turned to focus his optics back on that cube of high grade.

"Ironhide… Perhaps that should wait." Optimus rumbled beside him, his body listing slightly toward the red mech before he swayed back once more.

"No, no! I wanna tell em now! I'm tired of hiding it!" Ironhide protested, waving a hand lightly at his leader. Once more, his vision blurred, so he set one hand on the table to steady himself while the other reached for his cube. "Ya see, I love him, more than any of ya. I told Kup that once and he thought I meant it in a 'I love em cause he's my leader' kinda way. No! I mean I love em like like a fragging LOVER!"

Honestly, the reactions of the mechs around him were far different from what he expected. Ratchet seemed no madder than he was before, Cliffjumper's face was a mix of mild surprise and amusement, Prowl's optic ridges were raised, Jazz seemed to be paying no attention, Sunstreaker was smirking, and Bumblebee was still firmly knocked out like before. A quick glance at Optimus himself showed that the overcharged Prime seemed to look just as neutral as he did before.

"And you know what else?" Ironhide began again, seemingly not satisfied by the lack of reaction. "He is my lover! Frag it if we broke up in those 4 million meta cycles I can't remember! I can't remember, so if it did happen, it doesn't matter!" Now he cast a firm look on the Prime. "Got that? You're still mine, no matter what cha say!" With that, he poured the last of his cube's contents down his throat.

Judging by the way the Prime's optics widened at his words, Optimus was more than a little surprised by the firm declaration. "I think we have much to talk about then…" he said after a moment.

_Warning: Systems overcharged. Stasis lock imminent._

"Nothin' to talk about…" Ironhide managed to shoot back just as his optics darkened and his body shut down.

The first thing he noticed when he woke up was a horrific pounding in his head. Even lying down, unmoving, it felt like someone was beating him in the side of the head with the butt of an ion blaster. Had he had full control of his processor, he may have understood the cause of the horrible ache, but for now it was mysterious and painful.

The second thing he noticed was that, upon forcing his optics into function and then enduring the extra pounding that came with the flare of a light overhead, was that he was not in his room. Mind you, he hadn't exactly memorized the features of his new quarters, but just by looking at the tall ceiling, it was apparent it wasn't his. Then of course, there was the fact that the berth he was currently stretched out in was built for a much larger bot then himself.

The third thing he noticed, by far the strangest of the three, was that Optimus Prime was currently occupying the room as well. This of course clued him into the fact that this was most likely the leader's quarters judging by the size and the large desk on the other end of the room.

Ironhide pressed a hand to his head and gave a silent cursed, struggling to push himself up from the berth. "Uh… Sir?" he asked weakly, resisting the urge to purge his tanks when the room rolled around him. "What's going on?"

Optimus had been sitting at the desk with his back to the berth. At the red mech's words though, he turned and cast his optics behind him. "Ah, good. You're awake." He said, his tone indicating the hint of a smile under his mask. "When you collapsed at the party last night we were all rather worried."

With that, memories of the previous night crashed over Ironhide's processor, leaving him staring at the other mech in horror. Of course he'd gone and done that. He'd told EVERYONE! All that time ago… He and Optimus had sworn never to tell for fear of their comrades reactions. They'd both been afraid that the rest would think Optimus would play favorites with Ironhide or that the red soldier would abuse the power in some other way. Four million meta cycles later he'd gotten overcharged and blown it at a party.

With a groan, Ironhide buried his face in his hands, ignoring the horrible feeling this pressed on his processor. Primus he just wanted to curl up in a hole and go offline…

There was a soft chuckle across the room and a soft click of Optimus sliding his mask out of the way. "You seem a bit distressed."

"Frag it all…!" Ironhide cursed into his hands briefly behind he pulled them away to glance up at his leader. "Primus… I'm sorry Optimus… I told everyone and know who knows what the frag is gonna happen now…"

"Confusion, pandemonium, a short time where several mechs will question me, and then acceptance." Optimus replied, his lips twitched ever so slightly.

Ironhide frowned at the other mech's easy acceptance of it all. "You act so sure." He sighed. "I mean what happens if they make you step down or something?"

"Well, first of all, technically I am no longer the leader, Bumblebee is." Optimus noted, this time visibly holding back a grin. "And I'm not completely sure. This time there may be no reaction at all."

Ironhide jerked up in surprise, only to have to bite back a groan at the pounding that started in his processor. "What do you mean 'this time'?" he asked quickly, clutching his helm.

This time, Optimus broke out into a full on grin, standing up from his chair. "Our continuing relationship is not a surprise to our comrades." He noted, pausing for a moment. "Last night's incident happened once before. About 2 million meta cycles ago to be exact."

Of those two new bits of information, Ironhide was unsure as to which he should marvel at first.

Notably, the first brought an almost goofy grin to his face. Even after all that time he couldn't recall, Optimus still cared for him! Even after his unfortunate death, the Prime still wanted him.

The second though, almost made him swear off of high grade for good.

"So… After all this time… You and I?" The red mech asked, only to receive a short nod from the other. "And what happened the last time I revealed our secret…?"

"Confusion, pandemonium, questioning, acceptance." Optimus listed off, stepped toward the mech on his berth.

"So no one cares?"

The Prime shook his head and took a seat next to his red partner. "I believe they realized that everyone has a right to love, especially with the constant uncertainty of war hanging over our heads." He said softly, setting a gentle hand on the other's leg.

"Stop that." Ironhide said suddenly, glaring up at him.

Optimus started to pull his hand back, looking surprised at the protest. Ironhide of course, grabbed the hand and yanked it back down to where it had been.

"Not that. Keep doing that." He said firmly. "But stop being so slagging sentimental about it."

Optimus's optics flickered in confusion. "Why?" he asked. "After all, your death only reinforces the point."  
"Yeah. And now I'm back." Ironhide huffed. "Can we move on?"

Optimus chuckled softly and squeezed his leg gently. "Of course." He agreed, leaning over him slightly, allowing their shoulders to bump.

"Good, cause I was stranded on Cybertron far too long…" Ironhide growled slightly, taking the opportunity to grab the side of the Prime's helm. He dragged him down and pressed their lips together with a fiery zeal. He'd gone far too long without this.

Optimus chuckled lightly into the kiss, optics gleaming. "As have I…" he murmured. "We have much to reacquaint ourselves with…"

Ironhide gave a silent curse and pulled away only far enough so his words were completely unhindered. "Prowl wanted me up first thing to discuss rosters." He grumbled, optics narrowing in annoyance.

"Not to worry…" Optimus chuckled. "Prowl has allowed us ample time to attend to our own morning duties, whether it be nursing the after effects of overcharging or other needs…"

Ironhide made a silent note to thank the SIC before he dragged Optimus back towards him.

No one seemed at all surprised when Ironhide and Optimus emerged from the room later in the evening.


End file.
